The Fourth
by Amaxing
Summary: The other three tremble in his presence.  The presence of the one the devil himself would not take.  The one called Bloodskin...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Sand Bar

A sand bar on the Grand Line. A pirate ship is docked there. The crew stands there, gaping at a young man, who lies face down in the sand.

_The only bad thing about pain_ thought the young man as he clawed at his stomach _is that it's…well…painful._

Of course, the man really wasn't clawing at his stomach. He was clawing at the space that used to house his stomach. Now torn out by a well-aimed cannonball.

The crew that he had faced down simply laughed at him. _They have a right to laugh,_ he thought, _I knew from the start that if I got caught, I'd never be able to take down all one hundred of them myself._ He held the treasure he had taken back from them close to his chest. _But at least its mine again,_ he assured himself _better to die with it pressed against my chest then to live a thousand years without it._

As the traditional 'fade to black' that is associated with death approached the man, who, really, was lucky to still be alive in the first place, a particularly egotistical member of the crew did something very stupid. He strode up to the man, stepped on him, spat in his down turned face. Then he pushed the man over, reached into the man's chest pocket, and pulled out the man's treasure. He held it in the man's face, laughed, and them kicked sand in his face.

"No…" he said, his voice growing weaker with every breath, "please…"

The pirate was dancing now, waving the treasure around and mocking the man.

The man felt anger burn within his stomach (figuratively, of course). He saw red. The man gasped. He knew. _He_ was coming.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" The man screamed, his voice suddenly returning. "DROP IT AND LEAVE, PLEASE, ALL OF YOU!"

The crew stopped laughing for a minute, taking the man's words into consideration. Then they looked at each other…and laughed even harder. Was he really in a position to be making threats?

"PLEASE!" the man begged. "GET AWAY! DROP IT AND RUN, I BEG YOU!"

But the pirates would not listen. They were rolling on the sand now, trying breath while laughing as hard as they were. One even died, his last laugh etched on his face.

"I'M WARNING YOU!" said the man. But it did not come out in a human voice. It came out in a slow, demonic hiss.

The crew stopped laughing and looked up. The man was standing now. His pupils had turned bright red, and he was shaking uncontrollably. They grew worried. The captain motioned to the crew's resident giant, and the giant, with a single step, crushed the man underfoot.

There was a loud screech. Half man, half something else. Then the giant was thrown into the air. He flew across the sand bar, landing in the ocean several feet behind it. He was the lucky one. He would simply die from a Sea King attack.

Where the holey man had once been, there now stood a beast. Skin black as scorched charcoal, eyes narrow and piercing scarlet. The man's hair was on fire, or was it? A fire certainly blazed around it, but the hair itself remained untouched. There was no sign as to where the cannon had made its mark.

The creature let out a slow, demonic hiss. The crew stared, transfixed with shock. The beast raised its hand, and lunged forward.

End of chapter. Review please.


	2. The Legend

Disclaimer: This is not. An Oda-Sensei manga. This is just a fan fic.

The Legend

"YO HO HO HO HO HO! A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME!"

Brook sang and played his violin as the Straw Hats sailed towards another island. Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky danced wildly and sang along while Nami navigated the ship, Sanji cooked dinner, Robin read, and Zoro slept.

Brook finished his song and bowed.

"Play another one! Play another one!" laughed Luffy.

"Alright, alright!" Brook held up a hand, silencing the crowd. He raised his violin, set the bow to the strings, and began. "JUUUUUUUUUUUUST SIT RIGHT BACK AND YOU'LL HEAR A TALE…"

"You've played that like four times!" interrupted Franky.

"Yeah, and besides!" said Usopp "you don't want us to have to write another disclaimer do you?"

"What was that?"

"I said, it may be good, but it gets annoying if you hear it over and over again every half-hour."

"That's what I thought you said, yo ho ho!" Brook paused, thinking. His face (or lack thereof) lit up. "Have I ever told you the legend of the dread pirate Bloodskin?"

"Is it catchy?" asked Luffy.

"No, not really."

"Then play something else!"

"Wait Mr. Captain" said Robin, looking up from her book. "I'd like to hear it."

"Why?"

"It's a legend…I'm a historian…need I say more?"

"Yeah, I don't understand."

Nami hit Luffy over the head. "We'll be arriving at the next island soon" she announced.

"That's great!" yelled Luffy. "Now sing, Brook, sing!"

"All right I'll sing…I just hope you can STOMACH it! YO HO HO!" He set the bow to the fiddle again. Then he ran the horsehair across the string quickly, creating a screeching sound that caught the entire crew's attention. (It even woke Zoro…amazing, I know.)

"SKN AS BLACK AS A BURNED SHIP'S CARCASS!" Brook sang in a deep, throaty voice. The violin put out higher pitched sounds. Brook stopped at a note and tremoloed. "EYES OF PIERCING RED!" The violin screeched. Brooks skeletal fingers rose higher on the neck. "NO ONE KNOWS WHO HE TRULY IS!" He stopped. "OR WHO WILL NEXT BE DEAD." He smiled. "Anyone want to hear verse two?"

The crew just stared. Brook had done the unthinkable; he had scared the Straw Hats out of their wits.

"That thing…that thing isn't real is it?" asked Chopper, cowering behind Zoro's leg.

"No one knows…" Brook answered. "Some believe it's only a myth. Other's think it was invented to scare little children into being good, though frankly I've never heard it told to little kids. Still others believe…that this thing…this Bloodskin that the song mentions…is real."

"What do _you _think?"

"Well, I think that if it wasn't real, the government wouldn't have put a bounty on its head." He held up a wanted poster. Pictured was a drawing of a black beast with red eyes. The bounty listed below it was 6.66 billion berries. "Of course, the government puts a bounty on pretty much anything these days…" He held up another wanted poster. This one had an artist's interpretation of Davy Jones, and the bounty under it was 'the respect and eternal gratitude of the entire world. He put it down. "So I'm not sure if it's anything to be worried about, really."

Usopp stood up. "Well if it was real…" he began.

"Don't even start crapshooter, we all know you'd run away from that thing before you even saw it" Sanji said.

Usopp sat back down, frowning. Then he shot right back up. "LOOK!" he pointed over the side of the ship.

Over the side of the ship was a sandbar, and on that sandbar, the bloody corpses of an entire pirate crew lay, looks of terror still etched on their faces.

Nami put a hand over her mouth. Usopp's eyes bulged. Luffy simply gaped. "What the hell happened here?" Sanji asked finally.

"It looks like there was a fight," said Chopper.

"_Obviously_" snapped Sanji. But between whom? And with what?

"That must have been some army that could defeat such a large crew." Robin posed.

"That's not what happened." The crew turned to look at Zoro, who had been the one to speak. "Look at the footprints in the sand." They looked. "Noticed how there's many footprints on one side of the sandbar and only one set of footprints on the other?"

"What are you saying?" asked Franky.

"I'm saying that this entire crew was ravaged by one man."

"IT'S BLOODSKIN!" yelled Chopper. "SAIL! SAIL!"

"CALM DOWN CHOPPER!" Zoro barked. "Whoever it was left, there's no one alive left on that sand bar."

"OY! WATCH YOUR SHIP!"

The crew looked around. The voice cried again. "WATCH YOUR SHIP!" They looked over the other side of the ship and saw an old man waving at them from a fishing boat. The crew looked forward. They were about to run into a cliff.

"DROP ANCHOR!" screamed Nami. "DROP ANCHOR NOW!"

"Don't worry, I've got it!" yelled Franky. He jumped on top of the figurehead, connected his arms with a T-shaped pipe, and yelled. "COUP DE VENT!" The ship was blown backwards, away from the cliffs.

The crew breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with Nami's directions, they pulled into a beach nearby.

"Had me scared there for a minute," said the old man, pulling his dinghy up by the side of the Thousand Suns. "You wouldn't _believe_ how many people I've had to watch dash themselves on these cliffs. UGH! The thought gives me shivers."

"Well thanks old man!" cried Luffy. "Who are you?"

"Name's Hooper" the man replied. "Run the store here."

"What's it called?"

"Mr. Hooper's store."

"Wanna join my crew?"

"Nope."

"HUMPH!" Luffy yelled, and he stomped off, pouting.

"Don't mind him…" explained Nami "he's a bit…whimmy?"

"I think that's a word."

"Right, any way, where are we?"

"Bloodstone Cliffs. Also known as 'Pirate's Stronghold."

"Why's that?"

"Because nobody on the island wants anything to do with the World Government."

"That would be a good reason, yeah."

"Is there a pharmacy?" asked Chopper quickly.

"How about a dance hall?" chimed in Usopp.

"Any good places to drink?" asked Zoro.

"I could give you a guided tour if you want."

"Really?" asked Robin.

"Yup!" The old man put on a conniving smile. "But it'll cost ya!"

The crew gaped. "Nami…" began Zoro. "Is this your grandfather?"

"I wouldn't know Zoro… I wouldn't know."

End of chapter two. Yup.


	3. The annoyingly long OC chapter

Disclaimer: eceiP enO nwo t'nod I. (Place in front of mirror if you can't figure it out.)

Bloodstone Cliffs

A new island. The crew jumped off the boat, eager for adventure (except for Nami, who stayed on to guard the ship, write navigational charts, and find out if old man Hooper was really her grandfather (he wasn't, by the way)).

"Oh and Luffy?" Nami called as the rest of the crew left,

"Yeah?"

"Try not to recruit _too_ many people, all right?"

"But Nami…"

"_LUFFY!"_

"Oh…. fine."

……………………Brook and Franky…………………………………………

"I say old chap, are you sure there's a restaurant over this way?" asked Brook.

"How could I be sure, I've never been here before" Franky snapped. They turned a corner and were greeted by the sight of an old cemetery, equipped with fresh graves, creepy grave keeper and the works.

The grave keeper looked at Brook. Then he turned to Franky. "Usually, when I bury 'em, they still have skin on their bones."

"HEY!" yelled Brook. "I'M NOT DEAD YET!"

The grave keeper's eyes widened, more in interest then in shock. "Sorry about that, not used to living skeletons and such."

"I would hope nobody is," commented Franky "who are you?"

"Name's Amarillo" the digger replied apathetically "I'm the grave keeper here, in case you didn't figure that out from the shovel, the grave yard, and the apathetic attitude towards death."

"Yeah… thanks for clearing that up," said Franky, edging backwards quietly.

"Know any good places to eat old chap?" asked Brook. "I'm trying to BONE up on where everything is! YO HO HO!"

"That's mighty funny man" Amarillo replied, not laughing at all. "But if you're looking for somewhere to eat, I'd suggest the Devil's Tower over by the shore, they make some good blackened fish I'll tell you."

"Devil's tower?" asked Franky. "That's kind of an… odd name for a restaurant."

"It certainly strikes my funny BONE! YO HO HO!"

"Dude… get another line," said Franky in disgust. "Thanks for your help" he added quickly to Amarillo. They turned and left.

The gravedigger just stared after them, leaning on his shovel.

……………….Usopp and Sanji…………………………………………………

Sanji and Usopp wandered along the base of the cliffs (the same cliffs that the island contrived its name from). They looked around, frantically searching for town. They were lost.

"You do realize this is all your fault right?" asked Usopp.

"Mine? If you hadn't turned down that alley…."

"Well YOU were the one who dragged me along chasing after that girl!"

"Well YOU didn't stop and ask for directions!"

"WELL YOU…"  
"QUIIIIIIIIIEEEEEET!"  
Sanji and Usopp jumped. Standing in front of them, holding two very large cleaver-like blades was a middle-aged man with flaming red hair.

"AGH!" Usopp screamed "BLOODSKIN!"

"Does he _look_ like a demonic killing machine…oh wait, never mind."

"This is MY land you hear me?" The man screamed. "MY LAND!" You best get off now or I'll cut your TONGUES out!"

"YES SIR!" they screamed, and they rushed away.

Usopp poked his head back in. "Which way is it to town?"

"East."

"Thanks." He ran away again.

…………………..Luffy…………………………………………………………

Luffy grinned a wide grin. "ALRIGHT!" he screamed. "A NEW CREW MEMBER, HUZZAH!"

10 minutes earlier.

"But Nami…."

_"LUFFY!"_

"Oh…fine."

Luffy had walked into Town Square and immediately looked for the butcher's shop. He spotted it, and ran towards it, full of vigor. Then, a man knocked into him, sending him flying to the ground.

"Sorry!" the man said, extending his hand to help Luffy up. Luffy went to take it, but all of a sudden, the hand shrunk, and Luffy, with nothing to help him up, fell down again.

The man laughed. "Sorry about that, I couldn't help myself."

"Buy me a ton of meat and we'll call it even." He wasn't kidding.

The man smiled. "Alright."

Two minutes later, the man was Luffy's best friend.

"So Mr.…."

"Law. Major Law."

"Major? You're not?"

"No, that's my name."

"Right…So Major, how'd you do that hand thingy"?

"Devil fruit, what'd you expect? The size-size fruit lets me shrink and expand my body at will."

"That's awesome! You should join my crew!"

"What kind of crew?"

"Pirate crew!"

"Alright, fine."

"REALLY?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, usually it's not that easy…."

"Glad to be an exception."

Luffy grinned a wide grin. "ALRIGHT!" he screamed. "A NEW CREW MEMBER, HUZZAH!"

Law simply smiled.

…………………..Robin and Chopper……………………………………………………

Robin browsed the shelves of the town library. She frowned with disappointment. She turned to a young man with long, black hair.

"Excuse me…"

"You want something, beautiful?"

"Yes…. could you point me to the librarian?"

"Sure." He raised a finger, waved it around a bit, and then pointed at himself. Robin gasped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, it's just you seem a bit…"

"Young? That's a stereotype. But yeah, don't worry, I get it all the time."

"Right, I was wondering if you could help me find a book?"

"Anything for you, gorgeous, what kind of book?"

"A book of legends."

"Any particular legend you're looking for?"

"Yes actually…I'd like to know more about the legend of Bloodskin."

The smile on the man's face vanished. "Ah…I'm afraid we don't have books on him… they were all burned by the government, naturally."

"Burned?" She had a sudden, vivid memory of Ohara.

"Yes… government doesn't want the people to know there's a demonic killing machine running around that they can't control, do they?"

"SO HE'S REAL?" yelled Chopper, running for cover behind Robin's leg.

"Yeah… otherwise, the government wouldn't have issued statute 628, would they have?"

"What does the statue say?" asked Robin quickly.

"Well…" the man said slyly "if you might join me for dinner, I could tell you."

"I'm not sure my boyfriend would take a liking to that."

"Sorry, my bad… anyway, the statute goes something like this…" He paused and took a deep breath. "_Seeing as_ _the one known by the name of Bloodskin had defeated the Yankou known only as the Dread Pirate Roberts, and also seeing that the one known as Bloodskin is an enemy of the state and is dangerous to both the state and its people, we of the World Government do officially deem the aforementioned Bloodskin to be a Yankou, and to be merited all precautions and procedures that are entailed with aforementioned title."_ He smiled.

"'Goes something like this' my foot, you probably read it every night before you go to bed" snapped Chopper, displaying a gift for sarcasm.

"Only every other," the man quipped back.

"What else do you know…Mr.…"

"Alighieri, Damon Alighieri."

"Mr. Alighieri" finished Robin.

The library darkened. Lightning flashed across the clear blue sky. The scene, in a word, became set for a horror story telling.

"Nothing."

Robin and Chopper both sweat dropped. Damon continued. "Nothing but what the survivor tells."

"The survivor?" asked Chopper, trembling.

"Yes, the survivor, the only man to see Bloodskin and live, currently lives in an asylum of the coast of Nona Me'." He took a breath and continued. "Skin like blackened charcoal and eyes the color of blood, that what he's supposed to look like. The scary part is though that the man claims that this beast, or whatever it should be called, is, most of the time, a human being like you and me, well, maybe not like you." He pointed to Chopper. Chopper gave a fake 'you're not funny at all' smile. Alighieri shrugged and continued. "Yup, the survivor claims that under certain circumstances, this normal man, or woman for all he knows, he kind of went out of his head, turns into this…well, demonic killing machine, that seems to be the favorite way to describe it."

"Scary…" trembled Chopper.

"Not to worry little buddy!" Damon smiled. "The last reported attack credited to Bloodskin was only on the island next to us!"

Chopper was not amused.

……………………..Zoro………………………………………………………………

Zoro walked into a bar. And no, it's not the start of some lame joke. He sat down at the barstool, and waved down the barmaid.

The barmaid stopped, then smiled. "Aren't you Roronoa Zoro?" she asked.

Zoro looked up. "If I say yes…"

"Can I have your autograph?"

Zoro was stunned. "What…what's this?"

"It's just that…I heard you were part of the Enies Lobby raid and… well, I've never really liked the government, that's all."

"That seems to be a common trend around here….um….who should I make this out to?"

"Lucille."

Zoro scribbled his signature on a napkin, and then handed it to Lucille. "Thanks!" she said. "Now what can I get you?"

"I guess I'll just buy a bottle of grog."

"Grog? Sure! Oh, put it away, you don't pay here." Zoro was stunned again, but obediently put his wallet back in his pocket.

As Lucille walked away, he smiled. "I think I'm going to like this place."

"Yeah, we get that a lot." A young man with long, blue hair jumped into the stool next to Zoro, so quickly that Zoro actually jumped back in surprise.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?" he screamed, more in surprise then anger.

"Skyler."

Zoro waited for the young man to elaborate. When he just sat there with a smile on his face, he spoke. "Right…well, why are you talking to me?"

"Well, it's kind of my island, I have to greet the newcomers, don't I?"

"_Your_ island?"

"Unofficially of course. The real owner is that ol' hermit Dante who lives up by the cliffs."

"Right… well, goodbye." Zoro turned back towards the bar.

"Wait a minute, I'm not through with you!"

"I don't care."

"Naw, hear me out, its tradition here at Bloodstone to challenge the newcomers to contests of some kind."

"It is?"

"Well, it's _my_ tradition, anyway."

"Right…so, what were you thinking of?"

"Well, first I thought swords, but I don't think you'd be as generous as Hawkeye, so I figured a drink-off would do just fine."

"Wait, back up, what was that?"

"I said a drink-off."

"No, before that."

"First I thought swords."

"No, in the middle."

"I didn't think you were generous."

"Alright, fine, be that way, lets get this over with."

Skyler smiled. "Suit yourself."

…………………….One hour later……………………………………………………

"I…. I like you…you know I like you…right?" said Zoro through a drunken stupor.

"Yeah….yeah man, I know… I know…" Skyler replied. They had each downed fifty-three beers and were both about to faint.

"ONE MORE!" screamed the crowd at the bar. They obediently picked up their mugs and chugged. Zoro fell down, unconscious.

Skyler stared for a minute. "Well…..I guess….I guess that means…" he straightened up, perfectly sober. "THE HOUSE WINS!" The crowd roared. Skyler looked down at Zoro. "I guess I should take you home, huh buddy?" He picked Zoro up and carried him towards the beach.

End of the annoyingly long chapter where all of the OCs are introduced.


End file.
